Kerry Washington Claims Her Racial Identity Makes Her Unique

Vixen

In a firestorm of controversy surrounding Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, Kerry Washington explained in an interview with VIBE that we shouldn’t deny who we are and ignore our blackness.

“I don’t believe in this idea of living in this post racial society,” says the actress. “I don’t think that’s the goal. I think the goal is that we allow ourselves to be who we are and know that those things that make us unique don’t make us better or worse than anyone else. How you do that is you live who you are.”

In the film, Washington stars as Broomhilda, the wife of freed slave Django (Jamie Foxx) who treks across America in search of her in a pre-Civil War South. While Spike Lee is boycotting the film because it’s disrespectful to his ancestors, Washington takes the opposite approach and believes our history is what defines us and makes us unique.

“You don’t try to deny who you are or hide who you are; you don’t try to be someone else,” she says. “You just say here’s who I am: I’m a woman, I’m an Aquarius, I’m from the BX. I’m a New Yorker, I’m an African American, My grandparents are immigrants. There are a lot of things that define me, and all these things make me special.”

The film grossed $14 million and hit the number 2 spot on its opening Christmas day, beating Les Miserables which landed $17.5 million.